Evaporative personal air coolers are commonly used to cool air in a home, office, or another hot, dry air environment. Conventional evaporative air coolers operate by drawing air into the evaporative air cooler and through a water-soaked filter device. The air releases heat to evaporate water trapped in the water-soaked filter device. The evaporated water cools the air as it leaves the water-soaked filter device and exits the evaporative air cooler.
Conventional evaporative air coolers typically include a fan, a filter device, and a water distribution system. The fan draws outside air into the evaporative air cooler, pushes it through the evaporative air cooler to produce cooler air, and then pushes the cooler air out of the evaporative air cooler. More specifically, the water distribution system provides water to the filter device so that the filter device becomes water soaked. The water distribution system includes a water pump that draws water from a reservoir and distributes the water to a bottom surface of the filter device to soak upwards. Depending on the type of filter and the amount of water in the reservoir, the water may travel only partially up the filters. If the filters are not fully soaked with water, the evaporative air cooler is less effective at producing cooler air. The filter device includes filters typically made of a paper-like material that have to be replaced often. The filters 58 cannot be reused or easily cleaned.
Some of the water distributed to the filter device evaporates as air flows through the filters. The water in the reservoir depletes as the evaporative air cooler operates due to the evaporation. Any unabsorbed water that recirculates within the evaporative air cooler returns to the reservoir. When the reservoir fully depletes of water but the filter device is soaked with water, the evaporative air cooler can still produce cooler air, but it becomes less effective. The evaporative air cooler will cease producing cooler air when the filter device is dry. Thus, additional water must be constantly added to replace the water that has been evaporated.
Furthermore, it typically takes conventional evaporative air coolers a time to begin cooling air because the filter device must soak up water from the reservoir before the cooling process can begin. In other words, conventional evaporative air coolers do not instantly produce cooler air.